I’m not going to teach you to love as though you’ve never loved before. I simply mean that loving people is something which we can practice and improve. It gets better over time anyway, all by itself, as long as you pay attention. This is because love isn’t a ‘one-size-fits-all’ scenario. Love is individual and as you get to know the object of your love more deeply, you’ll know how best to show them how you feel.

I’ll start the series properly next week by talking about love languages. I’m sure a lot of you have heard of them but I thought it was worth giving a reminder that everyone understands and shows love in a different way. The problem is, if you speak a different love language to the person you love, how do you communicate? I’d argue it’s all about compromise, as most things unfortunately are. Learning to speak their lingo as they learn to use yours. Just doing this can be tough, but in making a real effort you’re already demonstrating your feelings for them.

Week three is going to focus on being there when the going gets tough. Life isn’t always easy and as a result, neither is love. When life throws stones at your loved ones how do you show them that you care? How can you be there for someone who seems not to want you around while they’re struggling? It’s a tough one, but I think it’s important to remember that you’ll have to fight through life with your loved ones – my friends and family have certainly had to fight things with me!

On Valentine’s Day a lot of people think you have to go big. I’d argue that sometimes this is a good thing. Special things such as presents and surprises, things that require some effort on your part can be a great way of showing people how precious they are to you. However, love isn’t just something that happens one day of the year. So week four won’t only argue for the extravagant demonstrations of love, but also for the tiny little expressions you can show each day.

I’m not an expert on love, in any way. But I do love people and I do my best to show them how much I care in all of the ways above. I fail sometimes, and we all do and will continue to do so but nevertheless I think that by working hard we can get better at it. The things I’ll be suggesting in this month’s series are just a guide which I try to live by and I’m not saying that they’re the only way (or even the best) to show people that you love them. In fact, if you’ve got any ideas I’d love you to get in touch and share them. We’re in this together!